Shocked & Thrilled

I entered a quilt, Paris Medallion, in our local fair this year.  I did it for fun and to support my niece who'd entered 8 photos.  I didn't have too many expectations, I really didn't know how the fair's judging worked.  Last Tuesday I dropped off my quilt at the fair grounds and saw piles of blue, red and white ribbons.  This peaked my curiosity so I searched online and found the following:

"The Spokane County Interstate Fair uses the Danish System of judging. The Danish System judges each exhibit against a standard, as opposed to the American System, where the exhibits compete against each other and only one exhibit is awarded 1st, 2nd 3rd etc. In the Danish System exhibits are awarded blue, red or white ribbons, or no ribbon based on how well they met the standard. Blue is the highest award (excluding special or champion awards) that you can earn in this system."  My English Paper Piecing Journey

At that point I felt there was a chance that I'd get one of those ribbons in the piles I saw.  My niece and her family texted me Monday to let me know I'd gotten a blue ribbon and a special award!  I was so surprised and excited! I finally got to the fair last night and there it was hanging with 5 other quilts in a special section.

I got the blue ribbon for meeting the standard:

The special award was given to a total of 6 quilts:

I really couldn't be more surprised or pleased!  I also glimpsed at the judges notes but was too overwhelmed to retain what was written with any accuracy so I'm also excited to get those back and reread them.

My niece got 6 of her 8 photos in (photography is juried with only 3 winners per category).  She did great!